More app developers turning their attention to Windows Phones

Good news for Nokia Lumia, Samsung ATIV and HTC 8 owners, your wait for the latest apps is almost over.

18.07.2013

(AFP) Good news for Nokia Lumia, Samsung ATIV and HTC 8 owners, your wait for the latest apps is almost over.

Although manufacturers are always quick to point to the internal specifications when it comes to selling their phones to consumers, the fact of the matter is that apps and the number of leading titles available for a specific handset are a key part of clinching the sale. For many consumers, Angry Birds, Facebook and Instagram are all more important than a quad-core processor.

Microsoft and BlackBerry have been struggling to sell their phones precisely because of this problem. Both platforms offer great phones but neither has anywhere near as many apps as either Apple or Android.

However, according to a survey of the mobile developer community, which polled the opinions of 6,000 respondents across 115 countries, although they're on the whole focused on Android and iOS, a large number are planning to start serious development for the Windows Phone 8 platform before the end of 2013.

The average developer spreads his or her talent across 2.9 platforms -- i.e., they focus on two and dip into a third from time to time. But, of the 3565 developers who said that they'd be adopting a different platform before the end of the year, 35 percent said that they would be building for Windows Phone.

The VisionMobile-commissioned study -- the largest of its kind -- highlights that Windows Phone still has some way to go if it is going to truly compete with either Apple or Android but that the platform is clearly beginning to gain traction with the developer community.

However, some of the growing popularity could be down to the fact that the same developers are starting to lose interest in BlackBerry.